If you haven’t noticed yet, pretty much anything with electricity running through it can be cracked, hacked, or attacked from far away. That’s why there’s so many kinds of firewalls. For example, a web application firewall protects web applications. It filters and monitors traffic between a web application and the Internet. Enter the Barracuda 360 Web Application firewall.
What is a Web Application firewall?
A Web Application firewall typically protects web applications from attacks. A WAF is not designed to defend against all types of attacks. Rather, it is usually part of a suite of tools which together create a holistic, all-around defense. A WAF can provide critical protection for online businesses that must securely handle private customer data. Businesses typically use one to shield their web applications from sophisticated, targeted attacks. For example, cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection, that might result in fraud or data theft.
A WAF also continually tests your web applications’ security. This lightens administrative burden. That’s because a WAF provides administrators with the application visibility necessary to demonstrate proper compliance.
So a WAF in front of a web application is like a shield between the application and the Internet. It operates through a set of rules often called policies. These are sort of like it’s rules of engagement against suspicious traffic. The value of a WAF comes in part from the speed and ease with which policy modification can be implemented. This allows faster response to varying attack vectors. For example, during a DDoS attack, rate limiting can be quickly implemented by modifying WAF policies. In other words, a Web Application firewall is nimble. It can ‘think on it’s feet,’ when seconds count.
The Barracuda 360 Web Application firewall
The Barracuda 360 Web Application firewall blocks an ever-expanding list of sophisticated web-based hostilities. Things that target the applications on your web servers and the confidential data to which they have access. The Barracuda 360 scans all inbound web traffic to block attacks. It also scans outbound traffic to provide highly effective data loss prevention.
The Barracuda 360 also simplifies application security so you can focus on your business. Its comprehensive feature set, versatile deployment options, and ease of use lets you automate many application security tasks, whether your web infrastructure lives on-site, in a virtualized environment, or in the cloud.
A network-based WAF is generally hardware. Since they are installed locally they minimize latency. But network-based WAFs tend to be more expensive. They also require the storage and maintenance of physical equipment. If that’s a big deal to you. There are also hosted WAFs and cloud-based WAFs, but they are beyond the scope of this article (read about the different kinds of firewalls here.
Features and specs
Standard network firewalls and WAFs like the Barracuda 360 protect against different types of threats. For example, a network firewall alone will not protect businesses from attacks against webpages. These are only preventable through WAF capabilities. So without an application firewall, a business’ broader network could be open to attack through web application vulnerabilities. However, a WAF cannot protect from attacks at the network layer. So, it should supplement a network firewall rather than replace it. These two firewalls don’t compete, they compliment each other.
The WAF should have a hardware accelerator, monitor traffic and block malicious attempts, and be highly available. It should also be scalable to maintain performance as the business grows.
The Barracuda 360 can safeguard up to 5 backend servers. It moves 25 Gbps of Throughput, and handles 8,000 HTTP transactions per second. The 360 also can handle 2,500 SSL transactions per second. It features high-availability, network firewall, application load balancing, malware protection, and a lot of other stuff.
The Barracuda 360 deploys quickly, and integrates easily with cloud-native services.
Barracuda support is excellent and always willing to help. It’s a real strong point of theirs. You can manage the Barracuda from anywhere with Barracuda cloud control. You can even run firmware updates from your phone on all you Barracuda devices.
So please remember that Corporate Armor sees your needs as unique, and we will meet them personally and quickly. We are never more than a few seconds away, whether you email us or call us at 877-449-0458. We can’t wait to serve you!
Barracuda 360 highlights
| 8,000 HTTP transactions per second |
| 2,500 SSL transactions per second |
| 25 Gbps of Throughput |
| Advanced bot protection |